DONE DEAL: Norfolk Southern Corp. Wick Moorman on Thursday announced the company’s plans to build a $129 million, 570-acre intermodal terminal in southeast Fayette County. The land where the massive project will be built was annexed this week by Rossville. -- PHOTO BY ERIC SMITH

Wick Moorman, CEO of Norfolk Southern Corp., made it official Thursday: The company is bringing a $129 million intermodal facility to 570 acres in southwest Fayette County.

Moorman made the announcement today at the Bank of Fayette County in Piperton, where the Norfolk, Va.-based railroad unveiled plans for the ambitious project.

Dubbed the Memphis Regional Intermodal Terminal, the yard will be built south of Tenn. 57on land newly annexed by Rossville, with road access to U.S. 72 in Marshall County, Miss. Norfolk Southern will add a rail spur from its main rail line – which parallels and runs north of 57 – into the yard.

NEXT STOP: Norfolk Southern Corp. will build a $129 million intermodal facility on 570 acres in Rossville. This mockup of the yard shows that it will sit south of Tenn. 57, with room for numerous trains and trucks. An access road will lead south out of the yard to U.S. 72 in Marshall County, Miss. -- IMAGE COURTESY OF NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP.

Railroad officials said the terminal, which should be operational by January 2012, will serve as a key gateway for its “Crescent Corridor,” a 2,500-mile rail network from Memphis and New Orleans in the southeast to Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the northeast.

“Memphis is the key to this entire project and will be the anchor for our Crescent Corridor,” Moorman told the crowd. “Because of its strategic location, and because of the intermodal demands that we see here today and see developing in the future, this new terminal is absolutely vital to the success of this corridor.”

The facility will be built on land that was owned by William Adair, who optioned a portion of his 3,200 acres to the railroad for an undisclosed amount. Adair proposed that the railroad build the terminal on his property after the company’s original site, north of Tenn. 57 between Rossville and Moscow, was widely rejected by Fayette County residents.

The yard, where cargo is transferred between rail cars and truck beds, will have an annual capacity of more than 327,000 containers and trailers, and will be able to accommodate 2,177 parked containers and trailers on chasses.

Look for more on this issue in coming editions of The Daily News.